My Beautiful Neighbor (The Greene Family #1) - Piper Rayne Page 0,12
shakes his head.
“I mean, what kind of mother wouldn’t tell me that?”
Xavier whispers something else in Clara’s ear and her arms flail as if he’s a fly she can’t swat. He says to us, “They either run the store together, or one of them can buy the other out, or they can sell it altogether.”
That explains why I’ve seen Presley in front of the window twice. And also why she looks so familiar. I realize now that she’s basically Clara’s twin but with dyed blonde hair, and a few years older. How the hell didn’t I put two and two together before this?
“Wait,” I say to Xavier, a memory sparking of ten years ago when Clara’s grandma died. “Remember when her grandma died, and I told you I thought I saw Clara at the cemetery when I went to see mom? But I called her name, and she just ignored me…”
“It was her!” Xavier snaps his fingers and points.
They looked the same, and I thought it was Clara, but it was her—Presley.
“Damn, it must have been her.” Xavier shakes his head. “Crazy. This is like something from a TV show. Who keeps a child a secret?”
I think he’d be surprised by how many skeletons people have in their closets. Being a pro-athlete, you’d think he’d know, since most of their dark secrets come out during their playing years. People want to pull celebrities down from their pedestals.
“And now ten years later, you’re going on a date with her,” Jed says.
“I’m not sure I can now. Seems unfair to Clara until this whole thing is cleared up.”
Not to mention, I don’t want Presley to find out I want the building too. She’ll think the worst of me and where would that get us? Plus, she’s obviously from way out of town, which means she’s not staying in Sunrise Bay long-term unless she decides to do something with the building.
“How do I face her tomorrow?” Clara cries. “‘Hey, I’m the daughter they kept. Want to braid each other’s hair?’”
Clara’s voice grows louder, so I tell Molly to give her one more. She deserves it.
When I get back to my house after getting the screen fixed on my phone, I debate whether I should go on the date with Presley. Terra and Mare had no reservation available anyway, but we could eat at the restaurant in Glacier Point. But I can’t help but think it’s weird now that I know who she is.
Sitting on the couch, I stare at my phone as though I’m waiting for a call, but really I’m trying to force myself to make one.
Jed walks in and stops in his tracks. “Stop being a dumbass. You know she’s not going to stay in town.”
“And if she does?”
“Then you can continue seeing her if you want.” His footsteps barrel up the stairs.
We live in the house I grew up in—me, Jed, Fisher, and now Adam since he and Lucy split. The girls share a house closer to our parents. Nikki was staying with us when she first moved back from college but said she didn’t like being by herself in the apartment and she didn’t want to move into the house with all us guys.
I sink back into the couch, pissed that after all these years, I find a woman I want to date and she turns out to be Sunrise Bay’s secret love child. The gossip brigade will eat this up. If she dates me, it would only make it worse for her.
I hammer out a text before I change my mind.
Me: So sorry, something came up. Rain check?
The three dots appear immediately.
Presley: Sure. Not sure how long I’ll be in town but let me know when you’re available.
Me: Definitely. I’ll message you tomorrow.
That gives me twenty-four hours. She might be gone by tomorrow evening anyway. Xavier said she and Clara are meeting in the morning.
Jed comes trudging back down the stairs. “God, I’m so pissed. That building was ours. I could see perfectly what we could do in there. I think we might have to look at relocating or opening up a second location.” He sits down and places his remote for the Xbox in his lap, holding the one sitting on the coffee table out to me. The guy hides his remote because he thinks it’s bad luck if any of the rest of us use it.
I blow out a breath, but what else do I have tonight now that I canceled my date?